In recent years, papermakers have begun exploring alternatives to wood pulp fibers as furnish for various grades of paper and tissue. One fiber that has been explored for use in paper is fiber derived from red algae and in particular red algae belonging to the division Rhodophyta. However, current processing is based on never-dried red algae fiber, containing about 85% moisture. The high water retention of the red algae fiber adds significant cost to shipping and storing the fiber. In addition, because of its chemical composition and fiber morphology, when red algae are pulped and subsequently dried the fibers undergo significant hornification such that physical properties, such as tensile strength, of products made from the fibers are greatly compromised. The hornification can become so significant that conventional repulping processes may not be able to disintegrate the dried red algae pulp into a useful form for papermaking.
Therefore there remains a need in the art for a method of processing macroalgae fibers to remove a portion of the water, without degradation of the fiber or impacting its usefulness as a replacement for wood pulp fibers in paper. There also remains a need in the art for a substantially dry pulp comprising macroalgae fibers that is easy to ship, store and process.